Charmless
by Gali10
Summary: Perry Halliwell and her sisters discover they come from a long line of powerful witches. Three of them are the prophesied Charmed Ones, but what destiny awaits the fourth Halliwell sister?
1. We Sisters Three?

Piper ran home through the rainstorm, holding her umbrella tightly as she went up the steps to the Manor door. "Prue?" she called when she entered, hanging her umbrella and putting down her purse.

"In here," her older sister answered, "Working on the chandelier."

Nervous, Piper put her coat on the hanger and went to see her sister. "I guess Perry didn't get a chance to fix it yet..."

"What else is new?" Prue tiredly said, "Piper, I told you we should have just called an electrician to fix it. I mean, where is Perry? Wasn't she home all day?"

"She's not staying in, Prue. She spends all day working in the garage."

"Yeah, well, she could still make time to work on this. She knows I can't leave the museum until six. I didn't even have time to change. You two can't just leave it all to me, Piper, you live here too."

"You're right," Piper conceded, "I'm sure she'll fix it when she's back. And I'm sorry I was late too, I just didn't realise how long I was in Chinatown. By the way, did Jeremy call?"

"No, but he had some roses and a package delivered," Prue answered, and the sisters went to look at the delivery from Piper's boyfriend, "What were you doing in Chinatown? I thought that you had an interview in North Beach."

"I did, but I went to Young Lee Market after my interview to get the ingredients for my audition recipe tomorrow."

"So, that Wolfgang Puck knock-off didn't hire you today?" Prue asked as Piper opened the package.

"No," Piper answered, raising a heavy wine bottle from the package crate, "But this just may get me the job."

"Jeremy sent you port?" Prue asked, surprised, looking at the bottle.

"It's the ultimate ingredient for my recipe."

"Nice boyfriend," Prue told her younger sister with a soft smile. But before she could answer, something caught Piper's eye.

"Oh my God," she said, "I don't believe it. Tell me that's not our old spirit board." She raised the wooden spirt board to look at it, a nostalgic smile on her face, and Prue joined her side.

"Yeah, I found it in the basement when I was looking for the circuit tester," the older Halliwell sister said.

Turning the board, Piper read the inscription on its back, " _To my beautiful girls, may this give you the light to find the shadows. The power of three will set you free. Love, Mom._ We never did figure out what this inscription meant."

"Well, maybe we should send it to Phoebe. That girl is so in the dark, maybe a little light will help," Prue mused, walking away from the spirit board.

"You're always so hard on her," the younger sister protested.

"Piper," Prue sternly said, "The girl has no vision. No sense of the future."

"I really think Phoebe's coming around."

"Well, as long as she doesn't come around here I guess that's good news," Prue joked, walking away before she could see Piper's nervous face.

* * *

Piper gathered up the courage to tell Prue that Phoebe's moving back home. Or at least, she thought that she did. _Just do it, just do it,_ she told herself as she marched towards her sister.

"I don't get it," Prue said in frustration when she saw Piper from the corner of her eye, "I have checked everything, there's no reason why the chandelier should not be working."

"Ah... You know how we've been talking about what to do with the spare room?" Piper blurted, wanting to tell Prue before she loses her nerve again, "I think you're right, we do need a roommate."

"Good, if we rent out the room, maybe with the extra income Perry won't take so many orders and she can actually help around the house more like she keeps promising."

"Or maybe if she could spend time with her twin she won't work alone in the garage all day."

"Phoebe lives in New York," Prue reminded her.

"Not anymore," Piper said, glad to finally let it out.

"What?" her sister looked at her in surprise, suspicion finally setting in as she realised what Piper was getting at.

"She left New York. She's moving back in with us."

Prue sighed and walked away, telling her sister, "You've got to be kidding."

"Well, I could hardly say no," Piper said, already regretting telling Prue about it, "It's her house too, it was willed to all of us."

"Yeah, months ago and we haven't seen or spoken to her since," Prue said in anger.

"Well, you haven't spoken to her," Piper corrected her sister.

"No, I haven't. Look, maybe you've forgotten why I'm still mad at her –"

"No, of course not," Piper said, "But she had nowhere else to go. She lost her job, she's in debt..."

"And this is news?" Prue asked rhetorically, "How long have you two known about this anyway? I'm assuming Perry knows too."

"A couple of days," Piper said in an unconvincing defence, "Maybe a week... Or two."

"Thanks for sharing," Prue said bitterly, "When does she arrive?"

Just then the front door opened behind the oldest Halliwell sister, and she heard Phoebe's voice happily say, "Surprise!"

Despite the tension from her argument with Prue, Piper smiled back brightly at her little sister.

"Perry's paying the cabby," Phoebe explained.

 _Of course,_ Prue thought, _Perry wasn't here to fix the chandelier because she's been waiting for Phoebe at the airport. I bet she's also spent all day organising her room. And paid for her plane ticket..._ Their sister's blind loyalty to her twin was really infuriating sometimes, but no matter what Prue said Perry kept enabling Phoebe's behaviour.

"Phoebe, welcome home," Piper greeted their little sister with a hug, a mixture of happiness and nervousness in her voice and on her face.

"Hello, Piper," Phoebe said, smiling.

"It's so good to see you," Piper told her sister, "Isn't it, Prue?"

"I'm speechless," Prue said sarcastically, a coldness in her voice.

Just then the door opened again, and Phoebe's twin came in. Like her older sisters, Peregrine Halliwell had black hair and light skin, but she had many freckles on her face. Smiling hesitantly, Perry told her sisters, "We're all here together again. Great, right?"

Piper and Phoebe smiled back at her, and technically so did Prue but it was a bitter sarcastic smile. "Is that all you brought?" their older sister asked Phoebe, looking at her duffel bag.

"That's all that I own," Phoebe explained, "That and a bike. Look, I know that you don't want me here –"

Prue stopped her and said, "We're not selling Grams' house."

"Is that why you think I came back?" Phoebe said, hurt. Perry wanted to intervene in her twin's defence, but Piper put a hand on her arm to silently tell her to stay out of it.

"Piper and I gave up our apartment and moved back here with Perry because this house has been in our family for generations."

"No history lesson needed. I grew up here too. So can we talk about what's really bothering you?"

"No, I'm still furious with you."

"So, you'd rather have a tense reunion filled with boring chitchat and unimportant small talk?"

"No, but otherwise we won't have anything to talk about."

"I never touched Roger," Phoebe said, for the hundredth time. Perry wasn't even sure Prue really didn't believe her, but it didn't stop her from being mad at Phoebe.

"Whoa," Prue did not want to go there right now. Or ever.

"I know you think otherwise because that's what that Armani-wearing, Chardonnay-slugging, trust-funder told you..."

"Hey!" Piper finally stopped the tense conversation, making Perry sigh with relief, "I have a great idea. Why don't I make a fabulous reunion dinner?"

"I'm not hungry," Prue said coldly and walked away.

"I ate on the plane," Phoebe said, and walked off as well.

"Can I still get a grilled cheese?" Perry asked, hugging her discouraged sister.

* * *

A little while later, Piper and Perry came to Phoebe's room bearing food. Perry knocked on the door, and Piper said, "It's us."

"Come on in," Phoebe told them.

"Oh, God, I am starving," she added excitedly when she saw the food Piper brought.

"I figured," Piper said, bringing the food to their hungry sister.

"Hey, that's Jeremy," Perry told her twin, pointing at the TV screen, "Piper's boyfriend."

"What happened?" Piper asked, noticing his grim expression.

"Some woman got whacked," Phoebe told them.

"Whacked?" Piper echoed her in dismay, "Phoebe, you've been in New York way too long." Perry laughed, but nodded. She missed her twin sister.

"I should have stayed," Phoebe sadly answered, "Why didn't either of you tell Prue I was coming back?"

"I won the rock-paper-scissors," Perry justified herself quickly.

"I wasn't going to risk Prue changing the locks," Piper said, only half joking, "Besides, you should have been the one to tell her, not us."

"Good point, Chicken Little," Phoebe answered, "It's just so hard for me to talk to her. She's always been more like a mother."

"That's not her fault she practically had to sacrifice-"

"-her own childhood to help-" Phoebe and Perry recited the speech along with their older sister.

"-raise us," Piper finished the sentence.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah..." Phoebe laughed softly, knowing that it was true.

"And we're lucky she was so responsible," Piper reminded Phoebe, "The three of us had it easy, all we had to do was be there."

"Yeah, well, I don't need a mom anymore, you know, I need a sister," Phoebe insisted.

Just a second later a knock on the doorframe made them turn to look, seeing Prue carrying a blanket.

"Hey," she said, "This was always the coldest room in the house."

Phoebe told her, "Thanks," but neither of them said anything else as Prue left. _I guess at least their being polite?_ Perry tried to look at the bright side.

* * *

"I'm glad to hear you and Jeremy are still together," Phoebe told Piper while the three of them sat around the table in the conservatory, playing with the spirit board, "Where did you meet him anyway?"

"We met in the hospital cafeteria the day Grams was admitted. He was covering a story and I was bawling over a bagel. So, he handed me a napkin."

"How romantic."

"As a matter of fact it was. The napkin had his phone number on it."

"Stop pushing the planchette, Phoebe," Perry told her twin.

"The what?"

"The pointer thing, you're pushing it."

"I'm not touching it," Phoebe said, "Tell her, Piper."

"You always used to push the pointer," their older sister said, and Perry smiled victoriously at Phoebe, "More popcorn?" Piper asked, getting up and heading to the kitchen.

"Hey, I forgot your question!" Phoebe called after her.

"I asked if Prue would have sex with anyone other than herself this year."

"That's disgusting," Phoebe told her. "Please say yes," she whispered to the board.

Suddenly the planchette moved to the letter A. At first Perry thought Phoebe was pushing it again, but she could see her twin was as surprised as she was. As they stared at each other in shock, the pointer moved on its own again, this time to the letter T.

"Piper..." Phoebe said, suddenly worried, "Piper, get in here!"

"What?!" Piper said, as she came, hearing the urgency in Phoebe's voice. The twins moved their hands away from the spirit board, just as Prue came in asking, "What did you guys do now?"

"Me? I didn't do anything," Piper said, still wondering why her younger sisters called her.

"The pointer on the spirit board, it moved on its own," Phoebe said, and their older sisters looked at her in dismissive amusement.

"It really did, guys," Perry said with concern.

"Why do you always let her drag you into this nonsense?" Prue wearily asked Perry.

"I'm serious," Phoebe insisted, "It spelled A-T."

"Well, did you push it?" Piper asked, joking.

"No!"

"You always used to push the pointer," Prue reminded her.

"My fingers were barely touching it, Perry saw it too, just look," Phoebe told them, putting her hands on the planchette again. But it didn't move, and their sisters went away.

Their backs were turned for barely a second however, when the pointer moved on its own again, going to the bottom of the board and then returning to the letter T.

"Ah, it did it again!" Phoebe said, "It moved!"

Prue and Piper turned back, but their oldest sister quickly smiled mockingly and noted that, "It's still on the letter T."

"I swear it moved," Phoebe told her.

"We're being serious, Prue," Perry supported her twin, but Prue was already walking away. As she did, the pointer started moving again, and Phoebe quickly let go of it and stood up to prove it wasn't her.

"There, look," she told Piper as it moved to the letter I, "You saw that, right?"

"I think so, yeah," Piper said, not sure what she saw.

"I told you I wasn't touching it," Phoebe said, "We both did."

The pointer started moving again, and Piper called out, "Prue! Can you come in here a sec?" The pointer stopped on the letter C.

While Phoebe grabbed a pen and an envelope and started writing, Prue returned to the conservatory.

"Now what?" she said, clearly annoyed.

"I think it's trying to tell us something," Phoebe said while writing. Turning the envelope, she showed her sisters the word the spirit board spelled, saying, "Attic."

Piper and Perry looked as concerned as she was, but Prue was definitely not convinced. Either way, just that second they heard a loud thunder, and the lights flickered before the power went out.

* * *

"Don't you think you're overreacting? We're perfectly safe here," Prue told Piper, following her as she marched towards the front door.

"Don't say that," Piper told her, her voice very agitated, "In horror movies, the person who says that is always the next to die."

"It's pouring rain, there a psycho on the loose, Jeremy's not even home..." Prue reminded Piper of a few very sound reasons not to go to her boyfriend's apartment.

"Well, I'll... I'll..." Piper tried to come up with a counter argument, but the best she could find was, "I'll wait in the cab until he gets home from work."

"That'll be cheap..."

"Prue, I saw that pointer move!"

"No, look," Prue said, trying to get Piper to calm down, "What you saw was Phoebe's fingers pushing the pointer. There's nothing in the attic, she's playing a joke on us."

"Perry saw it too," Piper insisted.

"When has Perry ever not taken Phoebe's side?"

"We don't know what's in the attic, Prue. We've lived in this house for months and we've never been able to get that attic door open. Even Perry couldn't open it." She tried to use the phone to call Jeremy, but soon realised, "Great, now the phone doesn't work!"

"Yeah, the power's out," Prue reminded her, "Look, just don't go anywhere while I go with Perry to the basement."

"What?"

"She needs me to hold the flashlight while she checks out the main circuit box."

"Nope, we're going to the attic," Phoebe said, holding a flashlight in one hand and pulling her twin upstairs with the other.

"No, you're not. We already agreed," Prue told her, "And besides, we need Perry to get the power back on."

"And I need her to go with me to the attic," Phoebe insisted, "That's where the we need to go, and we're not waiting until tomorrow. We are going now."

The twins went upstairs, Prue pointing at them and telling Piper, "See? That's how it always is with these two. I'll go to the check the circuit box myself, can you come with me?"

Meanwhile, Phoebe and Perry reached the attic door. "It won't open, Phoebe," Perry tried to convince her twin, "I already tried picking the lock, using my tools to force it open... Nothing even makes it rattle."

But Phoebe wouldn't listen, she pushed and pulled, until she finally gave up. But just as Phoebe turned away from the door, the twins heard the lock click. On its own. Creaking, the attic door opened. On its own.

"Do we have to go in there?" Perry asked, whispering, but she already knew Phoebe won't stop now.

Walking slowly, they went into the attic. After they walked a couple of steps in, a strange light shone through the window on a trunk. They walked over to the trunk, and Phoebe opened it, seeing an old-looking book inside. It had the same symbol on its cover as the spirit board.

Phoebe took the book out from the trunk, and the sisters closed the empty trunk and sat on it. "How is this supposed to bring the power back on?" Perry quietly asked her twin. But Phoebe just shrugged before blowing the dust off the book and opening it.

" _The Book of Shadows_ ," Phoebe read out loud the title written in large ornate letters on the first page. Turning the page, she read from the next one, " _Hear now the words of the witches, the secrets we hid in the night. The oldest of gods are invoked here, the great work of magic is sought. In this night and in this hour, I call upon the ancient power. Bring your powers to we sisters three. We want the power. Give us the power._ "

"We sisters **three**?" Perry echoed after Phoebe finished reading the strange text, wondering what it meant, "There's four of us." But Phoebe didn't seem to hear her, she was too absorbed silently continuing to read the book.

However Prue's voice was enough to snap her out of it, as their older sisters walked into the attic and she asked accusingly, "What are you doing?"

"Reading..." Phoebe said nervously, closing the book and going towards them, "An incantation. It was in this Book of Shadows, we found it in that trunk."

"Let me see that," Prue demanded, taking the book from her hands.

"How did you get in here?" Piper asked the twins in astonishment.

"The door opened," Phoebe said, and Perry elaborated, "First the lock opened on its own, then the door itself."

"Wait a minute," Piper backtracked, "In incantation? What kind of incantation?"

"It said something about there being three essentials of magic," Phoebe explained, "Timing, feeling and the phases of the moon. If we were ever gonna do this, now - midnight on a full moon - is the most powerful time."

"This?" Piper asked, losing patience, "Do what 'this'?"

"Receive our powers," Phoebe answered, smiling.

"What powers?" Piper demanded, "Wait, **our** powers? You included me in this?"

"No, she included both of you," Prue corrected her, " _Bring your powers to we sisters three_? It's a book of witchcraft."

"Wait, how do you know it's Piper and me?" Perry asked Prue.

"Let me see that," Piper said, taking the Book of Shadows from their older sister.

* * *

"Spirit boards, books of witchcraft... Figures all this freaky stuff started when you arrived," Prue complained as the four sisters went back downstairs with flashlights.

"Hey, I wasn't the one who found the spirit board," Phoebe reminded her.

"But it wasn't my fingers sliding around on the pointer."

"It doesn't matter," Piper said, "Because nothing happened, right Phoebe? When you did that incantation?"

"Well, my head spun around and I vomited split-pea soup. How should I know?"

"Of course nothing happened," Perry said, "Magic isn't real. And even if it was, there's four of us. The incantation is only for three sisters." But she couldn't forget all those stuff moving on their own.

"Well, everything looks the same," Piper said.

"You're right," Phoebe said, but she didn't sound convinced.

"But the house still needs work," Prue said, "Can you come look at the circuit board now, Perry?"

Nodding, Perry followed her older sister.

"Everything feels the same, so nothing's changed," Piper said, "Right?"


	2. One Freaky Day

**Thank you very much Hexenwerk,** **charityf1915, AnimeGamerGirl23 & Twin Masks. I really appreciate your follows and review.**

* * *

The following morning the Halliwell twins were sitting together in the garage. Perry was busy fitting locking mechanisms to the musket replicas she was working on, while Phoebe watched her sister and patted her dog Vic.

"Where were you last night, anyway?" Phoebe cheerfully asked the big white akbash dog.

"In my room," Perry answered. Although she never lost focus on her work, she welcomed having someone to chat with. Working alone in the garage all day could get lonely, and her sisters were definitely her favorite company. "I think the rain made her sleepy."

"Well, then I guess I'll forgive you for not coming to greet me," her sister told Vic. "Are you arming a unit of musketeers?" she jokingly asked Perry.

"Close, a theatre production of Les Mis. They want two dozens of these. Thanks for the coffee, by the way," Perry said, stopping for a moment to drink.

"You're welcome," Phoebe answered, drinking from her own cup.

Just then Piper stopped by the garage on her way to the audition. "You're up early," she told Phoebe, surprised to see her there.

"Apparently she never went to sleep," Perry said, stopping her work to properly talk with her sisters.

"Don't tell me you put on a black conical hat and spent the night flying around the neighborhood on a broomstick?" Piper jokingly asked Phoebe, making both twins laugh.

"The only broom I've ever had was kept in a closet beside a mop," Phoebe assured them.

"So what were you doing?"

"Reading," Phoebe said, sounding thoughtful, "Look, I'm glad you two are here. We need to talk. Is Prue around?"

"She already went to work early," Perry told her.

"Were you reading… aloud?" Piper asked Phoebe.

"No, but… According to the Book of Shadows, one of our ancestors was… a witch, named Melinda Warren."

"And we have a cousin who's a drunk, an aunt who's manic, and a father who's invisible," Piper answered sarcastically. She got up, needing to head to her interview, and the twins walked her to the car.

"I'm serious," Phoebe insisted, "She practiced powers –three powers. She could move objects with her mind, see the future and stop time. Before Melinda was burned at the stake, she vowed that each generation of Warren witches would become stronger and stronger, culminating in the arrival of three sisters. Now, these sisters would be the most powerful witches the world has ever known. They're good witches and, I think we're those sisters – you, Perry and I."

"But not Prue?" Perry asked doubtingly.

"Can you honestly see Prue practicing magic?"

"I can't see anyone practicing magic, Phoebe, because it doesn't exist. Just because we had an ancestor who thought she's a witch, doesn't make this 'sisters three' thing true."

"Look, I know what happened last night was weird and unexplainable," Piper told them, "But we're not witches and we do not have special powers. Besides, Grams wasn't a witch, and as far as we know, neither was mom." Kissing them both on the cheek, she added, "So take that, Nancy Drew," and got in her car.

"Good luck with the audition, Piper," Perry told her, and pulled Phoebe away before she could continue bothering their sister with this witch thing.

"We're the protectors of the innocent," Phoebe called out to her older sister over Perry's shoulder, "We're known as the Charmed Ones."

* * *

Prue walked hurriedly as she entered the hospital, worried about Phoebe. Perry told her that their sister should be fine, that luckily the bicycle accident didn't seriously injure her, but the oldest Halliwell still couldn't help worrying.

Seeing her older sister, Perry rushed over and hugged her. "Phoebe's still in x-ray," she told Prue reassuringly, "They just want to be extra-sure she didn't break anything. But in other news, look who's over at the nurses' station!"

"Andy?" Prue said in surprise, ignoring her sister's happy grin.

Andy turned to look at them, and smiled when he saw who said his name, "Prue? I don't believe it. How are you? "

"I'm good. How are you?" Prue smiled back at him as they talked.

"I'm… fine. I just can't believe I'm running into you."

"Yeah, I'm picking up the twins. Phoebe had some sort of an accident."

"Is she gonna be okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, she'll be fine," Perry told him, "It's good to see you, Andy, but I… think I'll go that way and let you two catch up."

Prue smiled in embarrassment and shook her head, as Andy told her sister, "Good to see you too, Perry."

"So, um… What are you doing here?" Prue asked, mainly to change the subject from her sister's playing cupid.

"Um… Murder investigation," he said heavily, followed by an awkward pause that was broken when a nurse came and told Andy, "Doctor Gordon's office is to the left and down the hall. He's with a patient right now, but you're free to wait outside his office."

Andy nodded and thanked the nurse. "Well," he told Prue, smiling awkwardly, "It's good seeing you, Prue."

"Yeah," Prue said as they shook hands, much to her younger sister's dismay, "You too, Andy. Take care."

They were almost about to part ways, when Andy stopped and said, "You know… Phoebe's busy, Doctor Gordon's busy… Can I buy you a bad cup of coffee while we wait?"

Prue smiled and said, "Sure." Somehow she suspected Perry won't mind at all.

* * *

"So now you think the three of you are… What was it? The Chosen Ones? The Charmed Ones?" sitting at a restaurant's bar with the twins, Prue tried to sound dismissive, but the truth was that she was getting concerned. Not because she thought Phoebe might be right, of course, but because it worried her that she wouldn't let go of this 'witches' nonsense, "Phoebe, that's insane."

"Are you telling me that nothing strange happened to you today?" Phoebe asked her twin, "You didn't freeze time or move anything?"

Perry shrugged and shook her head.

"All right, look, Phoebe, I know that you think you can see the future," Prue said, "which is pretty ironic-"

"Since you don't think I have one?" Phoebe angrily asked, "That my vision of life is cloudy compared to your perfect hell? Even if you don't want to believe me, just once can't you trust me?"

"If you say you saw the future, I believe you, Phoebe," Perry said quietly, hugging her twin, and added when she saw the way their older sister looked at her, "I do, Prue. You didn't see all those strange things moving last night. But…" she continued, although she didn't want to let Phoebe down, "One freaky day doesn't mean we're witches, or that all this 'protectors of the innocent' stuff is real."

"Phoebe," Prue told their sister in a calm but serious tone, "Perry already told you she does not have special powers. Now, where's the cream?"

As soon as the words came out of her mouth, however, the cream moved across the bar to where Prue was sitting. The three sisters looked at it in surprise, and Phoebe said victoriously, "Really? That looks pretty special to me."

"That wasn't me," Perry told her, looking at Prue. As their older sister stared at it, squinting her eyes, the cream added itself to her coffee, "It's Prue."

"Oh my God, so, um…" Prue started to say, still wrapping her head around what just happened, "I can move things with my mind?"

"With how much you hold inside, you should be a lethal weapon by now," Phoebe told her.

Prue rubbed her temple nervously, muttering, "I don't believe it."

"So, this must mean that you can freeze time," Phoebe told her twin.

"Or it could be Piper," Perry reminded her. But she and Phoebe were twins – it did seem pretty unlikely that only one of them will have powers.

Prue emptied a shot of tequila, and the twins looked at her with concern. "Are you okay?" Perry asked.

"No, I'm not okay," Prue answered, upset, "Phoebe's turned me into a witch."

"You were born one," Phoebe corrected her in a soft voice, shaking her head, "All three of us were. And I think we better start learning to deal with that."

Prue and Perry just stared at her, speechlessly shocked from everything. It was clear that their older sister was far from happy about it, but all Perry could think about was Piper. Despite what Phoebe seemed to believe, Piper could be the third witch. And if that was the case, Perry just hoped her sister was handling it better than she would.


	3. All Four of Us

"When I was looking through the Book of Shadows, I saw these wood carvings. They looked like something out of a Bosch painting," Phoebe told her sisters as the three of them left the restaurant, "All these terrifying images of three women battling different incarnations of evil."

"Evil fighting evil, that's a twist," Prue mused unhappily.

"Actually, a witch can be either good or evil," Phoebe explained, "A good witch follows the Wiccan Rede – 'an it harm none, do what ye will.' A bad witch or a warlock has but one goal – to kill good witches and retain their powers. Unfortunately, they look like regular people. They could be anyone, anywhere."

"And this has what to do with us?" Prue asked.

"Well, in the first wood carving, they were in the slumber. But in the second one, they were battling some kind of warlock. I think as long as we were in the dark about our powers we were safe. Not anymore."

* * *

"Has anything weird or unexplainable ever happened to you?" Piper asked her boyfriend Jeremy. He surprised her earlier, coming to congratulate her for getting the job (before she even told him she got it, because he was confident she will), and now they were sharing a cab from dinner.

However, as much as she wanted to just enjoy it all, Piper couldn't stop thinking about the fact she made Chef Moore freeze in place during her audition.

"Sure," Jeremy answered, smiling softly, "It's called luck, or fate. Some call it miracles. Why? What happened?"

But it was obvious they weren't talking about the same thing, and Piper wasn't even sure she wanted to tell him about it just yet. She wasn't even sure what 'it' was. _Could Phoebe be right about all of this witches things? Did she and Perry also have… magical accidents?_

"Forget it," she told her boyfriend. She trusted him, but this was all just too weird, "Even if I could tell you, you'd swear I was crazy. Open your fortune cookie," she changed the subject.

"Okay…" Jeremy said and opened the cookie she gave him, " _Soon you will be on top._ "

"It doesn't say that," Piper said, smiling.

"Yes, it does."

"Let me see," she snatched the piece of paper from his hand.

"Is that a bad thing?" he teased her.

" _-of the world,_ " Piper corrected him amusedly, " _Soon you will be on top of the world._ " She threw the paper back at him.

"Oh," Jeremy asked their driver, "Can you make a left on Seventh, please?"

"Seventh?" Piper was confused, "I thought we were going to your place."

"We are, but you reminded me of something. I wanna show you the old Bowing building. The view of the Bay Bridge, it's amazing."

* * *

"Excuse me," Prue asked the pharmacist, "Where do you keep the aspirin?"

"Uhh… aisle three."

"Chamomile tea works great for headaches," Phoebe told her.

"Not for this one it won't," Prue said, holding a hand to her temple again.

"You know what else works great for headaches?" Perry quietly told her twin, "If you stopped talking to her about witches for a moment."

"Well, I'm not afraid of our powers," Phoebe told Prue, completely ignoring what Perry just said, "I mean, everyone inherits something from their family, right?"

"Yeah – money, antiques, a strong disposition… That's what normal people inherit!" Prue angrily answered.

"Who wants to be normal when we can be special?" Phoebe said with a smile.

"I want to be normal," Prue said, her headache getting worse with every second, "I want my life to be… You know, isn't this aisle three?" she snapped, not seeing aspirin anywhere.

"Well, we can't change what happened," Phoebe said, "We can't undo our destiny."

"Why not?" Perry asked absentmindedly while she helped Prue search for the aspirin, "Can't we just not use our powers?"

"I don't think it works like that," Phoebe told her, but she didn't sound very unhappy about it.

"Well, then maybe you can get a vision of where the aspirin is?" she muttered.

"I see chamomile tea right there," was her sister's unhelpful answer.

"Look," Prue snapped at her, "I have just found out that I'm a witch, that my sisters are witches, and that we have powers that will apparently unleash all forms of evil. Evil that is apparently going to come looking for us. So excuse me Phoebe, but I'm not exactly in a homeopathic mood right now."

"Then move your headache out of your mind," Phoebe taunted her. Seeing the anger on Prue's face as she glared at their sister, Perry was about to search for some excuse to drag Phoebe away. But before she could come up with anything, a bottle of aspirin flew from the shelf to Prue's hand.

For a second they all just stared at it, but then Phoebe smiled and said, "You move things when you're upset."

"This is ridiculous," Prue said, "I thought that you landed on your arm, not your head."

"You don't believe me?"

"Of course she believes you, Phoe-" Perry started to say, but Prue told them angrily, "No, I don't. Of course I don't!"

"Roooger," Phoebe sang teasingly, and more aspirin bottles jumped from the shelf. "Now, let's talk about dad and see what happens," she said smugly as Prue and Perry picked the bottles up.

"He's dead, Phoebe," Prue said coldly.

"No, he's moved from New York, but he's very much alive."

"He isn't to us," Perry said, this being one of the only things she and Phoebe were never in agreement about.

"He died the day he left mom," Prue told their sister sternly.

"What are you talking about?" Phoebe smiled as she spoke, thinking her sisters were being completely irrational about this, "He's always been a major button-pusher for you, Prue. You're mad he's alive, you're mad I tried to find him, and you're mad I came back. Dad, dad, dad, dad, dad, dad, dad."

Prue and Perry glared at her, but were instantly startled as every box and pill bottle in aisle three shot out of the shelves. The three sisters looked at the mess in astonishment, and Phoebe softly gasped.

"Feel better?" she asked Prue, smiling.

"Lots," their older sister answered with a small smile on her lips as well. Even Perry chuckled at how bizarre it all was.

"The Book of Shadows said that our powers would grow."

"Grow to what?" Prue asked sarcastically, looking at the scattered medicine around them, and all three of them laughed.

* * *

"You are gonna love this," Jeremy told Piper, closing the door of the old building's elevator, "I bet you tell Prue and the twins the moment you see them."

"I never mentioned Phoebe came home," she said in confusion.

"Yeah, took you a while to mention they were twins too," Jeremy said, turning to face her as he pulled out a big knife, "I had to figure it out myself."

"Figure what out?" Piper asked in shock, staring at the knife, "What is this?"

"It's your surprise," he said, a malice in his voice and face that has never been there before.

"Jeremy, stop it. You're scaring me," but he just looked at her with a mean grin, "Dammit, I'm serious!"

"So am I!" Jeremy said, his voice harsh like she's never heard it before, "See, I've waited six months for this, ever since 'Grams' went to the hospital. You see, I've known for quite some time that the moment the old witch croaked that all your powers would be released. Powers that would reveal themselves as soon as the three of you got together again. When you and Prue moved back into the house, I thought it was just a matter of time. But Perry's the wrong twin, so I had to wait for Phoebe to return."

"It's you, wasn't it?" she said, the terrible realization dawning on her, "You killed all those women."

"Not women. Witches."

"Why?!"

Jeremy raised his hand, flames coming out of its spread fingers, "It was the only way to get their powers." In a much deeper, growl-like voice, he added, "And now I want yours."

* * *

"Piper's definitely not home unless she's turned into a cat," Prue told the twins, walking over with a cat in her hands. Sitting at Perry's feet, Vic raised her head to look curiously at the newcomer, but decided it wasn't a threat and resumed her nap.

"How'd the cat get in?" Phoebe wondered.

"I don't know… Someone must've left a window open," Prue said, "Um, did Piper leave a message?"

"She's probably out with Jeremy," Phoebe answered, "Roger called."

"Yeah, I heard," Prue said in disgust. Phoebe shook her head thinking about their sister's obnoxious ex, and Perry glared at the phone.

"Prue?" they heard Piper's voice call out from outside.

"We're here," Perry called back, and a second later their sister hurried in and locked the door behind her.

"Piper?" Phoebe said in worry. She was clearly afraid of something, and Prue asked, "Oh my God, What is it? What's wrong?"

"Quick," Piper said rushed toward them, "Lock the doors, check the windows. We don't have a lot of time. Phoebe, in the Book of Shadows, did it say how to get rid of a..?"

"Warlock?" Phoebe asked her.

As Perry started making sure the house was locked properly, she heard Prue quietly say, "Oh my God…"

* * *

The Halliwell sisters were sitting around a low table in the attic, a circle of candles around them and the Book of Shadows and a small cauldron before them.

Phoebe's found a ritual in the book that might help them stop Jeremy, and right now it seemed like their only hope.

"Okay, we've placed the nine candles anointed with oil and spices in a circle," Prue said, checking the ritual's requirements.

"Wait, I only count eight," Piper corrected her.

"Oh, you forgot this one," Phoebe said, showing them a tiny birthday candle.

"Will it even work with a birthday candle?" Perry asked, doubtful.

"That's the best we've got," Phoebe shrugged and said, "I guess Grams was a little low on witch supplies." She lit the candle and placed it in the cauldron.

"Alright, next we need the poppet," Prue continued.

"Got it," said Piper.

"Alright, we're set. Get ready to cast the spell."

"Okay…" Piper said, letting out a nervous breath, "First I'll make it stronger." She took one of the roses Jeremy sent her yesterday, and pressed its thorns into the poppet.

" _Your love will wither and depart from my life and my heart,_ " she chanted the incantation, " _Let me be, Jeremy, and go away forever._ Okay, the spell's complete," she said after placing the poppet in the cauldron.

"Let's hope it works," Prue said, and the four sisters watched as smoke started rising from the cauldron. After a moment the poppet and the rose disappeared in a soft flash of light, and then a quick puff of fire shot from the cauldron about a foot in the air.

Prue and Piper got up to leave, and Phoebe closed the Book of Shadows, but as her twin touched the cauldron Perry saw her suddenly seem to freeze up in place for a second. "Guys," Perry called her older sisters, who turned to look at them in concern.

"It didn't work!" Phobe said when her eyes opened, sounding as scared as her sisters felt.

"What?" Piper said, and her voice was faint with fear.

"The spell, it didn't work!"

"How do you know?" Prue asked, somehow keeping calm.

"When I touched the pot, I had a flash. I saw Jeremy."

"You touched the pot and you saw him?"

"He's on his way here."

Following Prue, the sisters rushed down from the attic. It seemed that escaping was their best option. But when the oldest sister opened the door, Jeremy was already there. His face looked horrifying, covered in cuts and large thorns. Piper and Perry gasped, and Phoebe let out a short scream.

"Hello, ladies," he said in an unnatural voice, brandishing his athame, as Prue backed away and stood protectively between the warlock and her sisters. Vic was standing at her feet, growling and barking at Jeremy threateningly.

"Get out of here," Prue ordered her sisters, throwing the warlock against a doorframe telekinetically, "Now!"

They listened to her, as much as they all hated the idea of leaving her with Jeremy, and headed up the stairs.

"Cool parlor trick, bitch!" the warlock said, smiling, as he started moving towards her again, "Yeah, you were always the tough one weren't you, Prue? Huh?"

She used her power to throw him against the doorframe again, and this time he fell to the floor. While he was down and Vic assaulted him, Prue ran to join her sisters upstairs.

"Phoebe, you were right," she said, "Our powers are growing."

"Put as many things against the door as you can," Piper said. They barricaded the door with a couple of dressers, a chair and a trunk, but Perry wasn't sure it will hold.

To her relief, however, she heard Vic running upstairs. _Smart girl,_ Perry thought with a smile, _She just bought us some time, and now she'll probably go to my room._

That brief second of joy was soon over, when she heard Jeremy's booming unnatural voice again. "You can't keep me out, fools! My powers are stronger than yours! Do you think you can stop me with pets and furniture?!" He laughed maniacally, and their makeshift barricade slid aside away from the door, "You can't stop me, and you can't outrun me! Haven't you witches figured it out?! Nothing, nothing can keep me away!"

"What do we do?" Piper desperately asked, "We're trapped."

From behind the door, they heard the awful sound of Jeremy's laughter again. Then the door was encompassed in a blood-red light, before it shattered to pieces. The Halliwell sisters flinched back, and all but Prue shrieked in fright when they saw Jeremy standing at the door holding his athame. The warlock had a wicked smile on his face scarier than anything Perry's ever seen. There were bite marks on his legs, but if he was in any pain it didn't seem to slow him down.

"After I'll have your sisters' powers, mortal," he said, looking directly at Perry, "killing you will be a nice little bonus."

"Stay behind us, Perry," Prue ordered her urgently, and told their other sisters, "We'll face him together. Do you remember the spirit board?"

"The inscription on the back!" Piper said. If their mom's message was ever going to make sense, now would be the time. And, besides, they really had no other options anymore.

"The Power of Three will set us free!" the sisters said together, as Jeremy shot a ball of fire at them from his athame. But rather than hit them, it just surrounded the four sisters in a flaming circle.

For a second they stared at the tall flames in shock, but the fire couldn't get to them. "Come on, we've got to say it together," Prue urged her sisters, taking Phoebe and Piper's hands in hers. Unable to help, Perry just stood behind them and watched. But she didn't feel helpless – for some reason, she knew she's never been safer, and that her sisters' Power was much greater than Jeremy's.

"The Power of Three will set us free!" her sisters began to chant together, "The Power of Three will set us free! The Power of Three will set us free!"

Jeremy's athame shot some sort of energy bolt at them, but it couldn't enter the circle. Even as the flames were replaced by a whirlwind, the wind could not do any more than blow through their hair.

Even though it was clear that he couldn't get to them, Jeremy still laughed. "I'm not the only one," the warlock said while Perry's sister continued to chant, "I'm one of millions! In places you can't even imagine! In forms you would never believe! We are hell on this earth!"

"You'll never be safe!" he shouted in rage, "And you will never be freeeee!"

But threats did not help Jeremy, and as he screamed the last word, the warlock exploded – leaving behind nothing but a little puff of smoke. The sisters looked at the spot where he stood just a second ago, looking like something out of a nightmare.

"The Power of Three," Prue said in amazement, as they were all finally starting to realize what it meant.

* * *

Piper, Phoebe and Perry were sitting in the living room together. The stray cat was in Phoebe's lap, and Vic was sitting beside Perry.

"I can't believe I'm asking this," Perry asked her sisters, "But isn't it kinda weird that you're all witches and I'm not?"

"Do you want to be a witch?" Piper asked her.

Perry shrugged. "I just don't like being the exception, I guess. Especially when there doesn't seem to be any explanation why."

"Well, you are the youngest."

"Phoebe and I are twins, Piper," Perry reminded her older sister.

"Yeah, but she was born first."

"Oh, that's right!" Phoebe said, smiling proudly.

"So, what? The magic ran out?" Perry asked sarcastically.

Piper was about to say something, when Phoebe asked, "Is Prue talking with someone outside? I think I hear a man's voice."

"Ooh, maybe it's Andy!" Perry said excitedly, "They ran into each other at the hospital yesterday."

The three sisters went to find out, Vic following behind them and the cat still in Phoebe's hands. When they opened the door, they saw Andy getting back to his car.

"It is Andy," Piper said.

"Told you," the twins answered in unison.

"What did he want?" she asked Prue curiously.

"He asked me out," their older sister answered, making them smile.

"And you said..?"

"Well, I started to say yes… and then I stopped. I wondered if I could date. I mean, do witches date?"

"Not only do they date, but they usually get the best guys," Piper joked, and her younger sisters giggled softly. Considering their Grams' four marriages, and of course their father, that statement was probably not very accurate. But in Andy's case, it was definitely true.

"You will not be laughing when this happens to you," Prue said, but she was smiling nevertheless, "Believe me, everything will be different now. For all of us."

"Well, at least our lives won't be boring," Phoebe said.

"But they'll never be the same."

"And this is a bad thing?"

"No, but it could be a big problem."

"Prue's right," Piper said as the four sisters walked back into the manor, "What are we gonna do?"

"What can't we do?" Phoebe said excitedly.

"Fix the attic's door?" Perry suggested, smiling, "Lucky you have your 'charmless' little sister." Piper hugged her with one arm while walking.

"We are going to be careful," Prue said, "We're going to be wise, and we're gonna stick together. The four of us."

"This should be interesting," Piper mused.

* * *

 **Note: Perry's always been a crafty/handy type - deconstructing stuff to learn how they work, fixing broken things or making sculptures and tools from whatever materials she found. After highschool she spent four years expanding her self-taught knowledge, studying and apprenticing in skills like metalworking, electrician-ing, carpentry etc. About six months before Grams died she started a freelance business making custom items like antique replicas, weapon props, and the like.**

 **Hopefully this makes at least some sense...**

 **Thanks for your question fictionreader23 & thank you so much for reading this story.**


	4. Warlocks, Warlocks Everywhere

"I'm going to kill him," Piper told her angrily. Perry was in Quake to meet a potential client, but in the meantime met with her older sister. Although since Piper was so busy, it mostly meant she just followed her around and tried not get in the way.

"Who?" Phoebe, who just joined them, asked.

"Chef Moore," Perry filled her twin in, as they followed Piper to the restaurant's bar, "He hired Piper and then bailed to go open a new restaurant."

"Thank you very much, You of the Phony Accent," their older sister grumbled.

"I don't see any customers complaining," Phoebe said with a smile, and Perry looked at her in shock. "That's not the point, Phoebe. He took advantage of Piper's dreams to lure her into a job she never wanted."

"Exactly," Piper said, glad someone was getting it, "I'm not a restaurateur, I'm a chef. I have no idea what I'm doing."

"For what it's worth, though, it does look like you're doing a great job."

Piper gave her a tired smile, but then frowned at Phoebe, "Are you wearing my dress?"

Before Phoebe could answer, however, their friend Brittany came over.

"Hey, Brittany," Phoebe said, eager to change the subject, "Ooh, I love that tattoo." Looking at the angel tattoo on the back of the blonde woman's hand, Perry smiled and nodded in agreement.

"Hey, thanks," Brittany said, smiling.

"I thought it was illegal to get them on your hand because of the veins."

"In the States, yeah. I got it done in Tahiti. Oh, keep the change, Piper. I gotta jam."

"Okay, say hi to Max," Piper told her, and the twins waved as she left.

While Piper was talking to one of the waitresses, Perry noticed that Phoebe was looking at a man on the other side of the restaurant.

"Now back to my dress," Piper began to say, but Phoebe stopped her.

"Okay, see that poster boy to your left? Just glance, don't be obvious."

"I approve, who is he?"

"His name is Alec, and he's about to come over and ask if he could buy me a martini."

"How do you know?"

"Let's just say I solved the age-old problem of who approaches whom first. I had a little premonition."

"What? Phoebe, you're not supposed to use your powers. We agreed."

"No, you and Prue agreed. I abstained, and Perry has no powers. Besides, it's not like I can control it, it just popped into my head."

"That's the whole point. None of us can control our powers. That's what scares me. I could panic and freeze the entire restaurant."

"Ssh, here he comes," Phoebe whispered as Alec walked over.

Perry just sat there frowning when Phoebe showed off 'guessing' what she saw in her premonition, making Piper roll her eyes. "Why are you so quiet? What's wrong?" Piper asked her as Phoebe and Alec walked away.

"What if there's a reason Phoebe had a premonition about Alec?" Perry asked in concern, "Maybe it's a warning. He could be a warlock or something."

"Then she'd see him doing something evil, not buying martinis," Piper told her, "Look, just focus on your meeting. Phoebe will be fine."

* * *

"Morning," Prue said, walking into the kitchen. Piper was whisking eggs and watching a documentary about witch trials, and Perry was drinking a huge cup of coffee.

"Morning," they told their sister.

"What are you watching?"

"Nothing," Piper answered, sounding guilty, "Just a show."

"About witches?"

"Witch trials," Perry helped.

"Are you worried we're gonna be burnt at the stake?"

"Yeah, right..." Piper said, sounding unconvincing.

"By the way, Andy called when you were in the shower," Perry told Prue.

"What did you tell him?" she asked, not sounding very happy.

"That you're in the shower?" the younger sister said, shrugging.

"Bad date?" Piper asked.

"No," Prue answered, but she still looked very serious, "No, no. Not at all. It was great. You know – dinner, movie... sex."

"Excuse me?" Piper said, and Perry abandoned the idea of high-fiving Prue and dropped her hand, "On the first date? You sleaze."

"It wasn't really their first date, Piper," Perry said, and Prue gratefully nodded.

"High-school doesn't count," Piper said, "that was last decade. Spill it."

Prue left the kitchen, her sisters following her. "Ooh, that bad, huh?" Piper asked.

"No, actually that good," Prue said, "It was... well, we were amazing. But that's not the point. I told myself that things would be different. That we would take it slow. It just shouldn't have happened, that's all."

"What shouldn't have happened?" Phoebe asked, coming from upstairs.

"Prue slept with Andy," Piper told her.

"Hello?"

"Thanks a lot, mouth," Prue told Piper.

"Wait, you were gonna tell them but not me?" Phoebe protested, "Family meeting."

"Speaking of last night, what time did you end up rolling in?" Prue asked.

"No, no, no. Do not change the subject."

"Don't dodge the question."

"It must have been at least after three," Piper said.

 _More like four,_ Perry thought. She stayed up waiting for Phoebe to come home, worried despite of what Piper said. But she wasn't going to tell Prue and Piper about that. It was a matter of twin loyalty.

"I must still be on New York time," Phoebe said.

"Actually that would make it later," Prue corrected her.

"Or maybe you and Alec..." Piper started to say.

"Who's Alec?" Prue asked, worried.

"Some hottie she hit on in the restaurant."

"Excuse me, where vision is history, he hit on me," Phoebe said, "Remember the whole vision thing?"

"Vision thing?" Prue asked, "Please tell me you didn't use your powers." When Phoebe didn't say anything, Prue looked at Piper and Perry.

"Don't put us in the middle," Piper objected.

"You were born in the middle, Piper," Prue said, "Look, I thought that we agreed."

"No," Phoebe told her, "We didn't. You agreed. You laid down the law. There's a difference."

"Phoebe, our powers are not toys. We have to be careful or they can get us killed."

"Your powers are the only reason we all haven't already been killed," Perry reminded her older sister, "You can't just hide and hope no warlocks notice us. Jeremy knew about your powers months before you even received them."

"What does this have to do with what Phoebe did last night?" Prue asked, annoyed that as usual Perry took her twin's side.

"Perry thinks Alec's a warlock," Piper explained.

"Why else would Phoebe get a premonition about him?" Perry asked.

"Look, it was just a lousy premonition, that's all. Nobody died. Nobody's evil," Phoebe said, "And FYI, nothing happened last night. At least nothing I'm ashamed of."

"There's another reason we have to be careful," Prue told them before Phoebe could leave the room, "Andy thinks someone's abducting women in our area."

"Alec," Perry said, but the only response she got was a glare from Phoebe.

"Abducting women?" her twin asked Prue, "What do you mean?"

"It means that warlocks aren't the only evil we have to watch out for," Prue said, "And FYI, I'm not ashamed of anything."


	5. Unfrozen

Working in the garage, Perry looked up when she heard Vic barking. Piper and Phoebe were at Quake, and Prue had a job interview at an auction house. Looking at the street, she saw that a very expensive-looking car stopped right in front of the manor.

A tall woman in her late thirties with dark blonde hair came out from the back seat, and Perry immediately recognised her as the client she met with the previous evening. She was wearing a dress that probably cost more than all the clothes Perry owned together, and her sunglasses and high-heels shoes looked just as expensive.

 _Meanwhile I smell of wood paint,_ Perry thought, looking down at her dirty work clothes and cursing her luck, _just great._ Shushing Vic, she came to meet the woman. "Miss Blunt, I didn't realise you'll be coming by," she said unsurely, half apologising for her messy appearance and half wondering why the woman was there.

"You weren't supposed to, Miss Halliwell," she answered, a small smile on her lips as she looked at Perry's toned arms, making the black haired woman very aware that she was wearing a loose fitting tank top, "Seeing you in your natural environment was the whole point."

Perry tried not to blush, and remind herself that Vanessa Blunt was a client really worth keeping. But it was difficult to ignore the fact that the older woman was extremely gorgeous and equally flirty. _But that's all this is, Perry – she's just flirting. Be professional._

"Umm, I haven't started working on your order," she said hesitantly.

"Of course not," Vanessa said, "I didn't expect to be your only client. There's no rush."

Perry managed not to sigh with relief, and added, "It will be ready for you in time, though, of course."

"I never doubted that. I wouldn't hire you if I didn't trust you're capable," Vanessa said confidently. Looking at the manor, she asked, "You live here?"

Perry nodded, "My workshop's in the garage, but this house has been in my family for generations."

"So you live with your parents?" Vanessa asked, as Perry and her walked to the garage, "I'm not judging. You're still young."

"With my sisters, actually," Perry said.

"No parents, then?" she asked, looking around the garage, and the younger woman shook her, "My condolences."

"Thank you," Perry said. Eager to change the subject she asked, "Can I offer you something to drink?"

"No, I think I've interrupted your work enough for now. I'll see you again when my sword is ready."

Perry walked Vanessa back to her car, but before she got in it, the blonde stopped to take another long look at Perry. Smiling, she said, "I hope this goes well, Miss Halliwell. I'll be happy to leave more work like this in your... very capable arms in the future."

* * *

Prue picked Perry up from the manor that evening, and they went to Quake together. It made more sense to meet Piper and Phoebe there than wait for their sisters to come back from work anyway.

They ran into Piper as they walked into the restaurant, and Prue asked, "You didn't give Andy my cellphone number by any chance, did you?" On the drive over, she's already asked Perry the same question – several times.

"No. Why?" Piper answered, although she was clearly very busy with the restaurant, "Remind me – I wanted to do this for a living, right?"

"At least the two of you are doing _something_ for a living," Prue told her, "I think I blew my interview."

"I can't imagine you were less than stellar."

Following Piper through the restaurant, they suddenly noticed Phoebe sitting with a man they didn't recognise. _At least it's not Alec again_ ,Perry thought. The weird thing, though, was the dress her twin wore – it looked like something Vanessa would wear, not one of her sisters.

"Isn't Phoebe supposed to be waitressing?" she asked Piper.

"Well, she's flirting instead."

"Yeah, and she's wearing Armani," Prue said, "Where did she get that?"

"Not from my closet," Piper told them, "Gotta go." As she went to deal with one of the million things that seemed to require her attention, Prue and Perry walked over to their other sister.

"Hi," Phoebe said with a bright smile when she saw them, telling her date, "These are my other sisters. Prue, Perry, this is Stefan – the photographer."

"Pleasure," he said, shaking their hands, and Prue answered, "Likewise."

"Nice dress," the oldest Halliwell sister added after a second, looking at Phoebe with suspicion.

"Don't worry, it's not yours," she said.

"I know. I could never afford it."

"Will you excuse me for one minute?" she told Stefan, getting up, "I'll be right back."

The three sisters walked into the kitchen, where Prue asked her angrily, "Phoebe, how're you gonna pay for that? You're broke."

"Not for long."

"What does that mean?" she asked. Shaking her head, she added wearily, "You didn't use your powers again?"

"Maybe. Are you telling me you haven't?"

"No, I'm not telling you that. But we're not talking about me, are we?"

"What are you doing here?" Piper walked up to them and asked nervously.

"Same thing we do at home," Phoebe answered, looking at Prue angrily.

"What, did you go to the track? Play the market? What?" Prue demanded to know.

"The lottery."

"Phoebe!" Piper said, angry at Phoebe's recklessness and that once again she was stuck in the middle.

"When I said you should use your powers I meant for protection, not money," Perry told Phoebe.

"What did you want me to do?" Phoebe asked them defensively, "Ignore the premonition? Not help a needy family? That's what we're supposed to do, right?"

"No, we are not supposed to use our powers for our own personal gain. That is what it says in the Book of Shadows," Prue scolded her.

"Not so loud," Piper begged.

"You said we needed money, right?" Phoebe angrily told Prue, "Well, I'm getting some."

"Come on, you guys."

"So get a job, like everybody else," Prue argued.

"I'm using my mind instead!" Phoebe answered.

Just then Andy walked into the kitchen looking for Prue, and bumped into a guy holding a pile of plates. "Watch it!" Piper yelled, and unintentionally froze the entire room.

"Oh no," she said, "No, no, no, no, no, not again!"

"Now look at what you've done!" Prue told Phoebe.

"This is my fault?!"

"That's not fair, Prue," Perry defended her.

"You guys aren't frozen?" Piper pointed out, surprised.

"I guess it doesn't work on witches," Phoebe said.

"So I am a witch?" Perry asked, confused.

Phoebe shrugged, "I guess so."


	6. Make 'em Fresh!

**Hey, charityf1915, thanks for reading and reviewing! It certainly looks like Perry's a witch, so we might see her powers awakening soon. I hope you'll like it!**

* * *

"It doesn't work out here either," Prue told them, after peeking at the restaurant's dining room.

"Oh, tell me this isn't happening!" Piper said desperately.

"Piper, how long does it last?" Phoebe asked.

"I don't know. Not long."

"Calm down, it's okay," the twins tried to calm Piper down while Prue kept watch on the other room, "It's all gonna be okay."

"Oh God..." their oldest sister said nervously, "Andy's partner just came in and he's headed this way."

"What are we gonna do?" Piper asked helplessly.

"Stall him," Phoebe told Prue.

While Prue went outside, and Perry picked up the plates frozen in mid-air to her hands, Phoebe told their sister, "Breathe, Piper. Breathe," and fanned her with a menu. It didn't seem to work, but thankfully just as Andy's partner opened the door, the room unfroze.

Andy looked around in confusion. Somehow Prue moved to the other side of the room, with Inspector Morris standing next to her. Hector the busboy, however, just looked at Perry gratefully as she handed the pile of plates back to him.

"What are you doing here?" Andy asked his partner, "I thought I had five minutes."

"Yeah, I gave you ten," he answered, pointing at his watch.

"Guys, you know, we're really busy in here," Piper said in a shaky agitated voice, interrupting Andy who tried to make sense of this.

"Yeah, sure," Andy said, still unsure what was going on, nodding weakly.

"I'll call you later. I promise," Prue told him, directing the inspectors out of the kitchen.

"I hate being a witch," Piper said angrily, quiet enough that only her sisters could hear, and walked away to deal with her job.

Her three sisters looked at each other, nervous and guilty. Adding more stress for Piper was the last thing they wanted. But they also couldn't help but wonder if Perry really was a witch, and what kind of powers she might have.

* * *

The following morning, Phoebe found Piper sitting alone in the attic and reading in the Book of Shadows. Her older sister looked sad and worried.

"Hey," Phoebe said cheerfully, but there was some concern in her voice as well, "What are you doing?"

"Reading," Piper said with a small sigh, "Thinking..."

"About what?"

"About how totally screwed we are, now that we're witches."

Phoebe sat on a chair in front of Piper, a small sarcastic smile on her lips, "Oh, that."

"You don't understand. You don't think we are. You're never afraid of anything. I envy that about you, always have."

"Yeah, well, don't – because it gets me into trouble sometimes."

It made Piper smile for a second, but she still looked upset.

"Piper, talk to me."

"I don't know, it's just... our whole lives, we've been like everybody else. Rushing off to work, going out on bad dates, buying shoes... And suddenly we wake up one day and everything is different. We're witches now. I don't know if that's a good thing, or a bad thing."

"Are you kidding? It's a great thing!"

"We don't know that. We don't know anything about these powers. Why we have them, what they mean, where they even come from... I mean, how do we know it's not... How do we know it's not from evil?"

"Piper..." Phoebe shook her head softly, "We've been through this – we're good witches."

"How do we know? What about Jeremy? What about all the other warlocks he said will be coming after us? How do we know we're not just like them?"

Phoebe sighed, frustrated that she can't seem to convince Piper.

"That is what scares me," her older sister continued, "We don't know." She paused for a few seconds, and said in a broken voice, "I just... I just wanna be normal again. As messed up as that was. Is that too much to ask for?"

"Piper, listen to me. You are the sweetest most caring person I have ever met." Piper laughed softly, but her younger sister smiled and said, "No, I mean that. You are. You're always there to help anybody, even strangers. You've been doing that your whole life. So, there's no way that you've been given this... this gift, if it wasn't to do good things with it. To protect the innocent, just like the Book of Shadows says."

Piper smiled, seeming to come around, and Phoebe added, "Besides, if anyone should be concerned with being bad it's me, right?" making both sisters laugh. "You've got nothing to be afraid of," Phoebe told her sister, and then added in a lighter voice, "I gotta run. I am going to get my picture taken."

* * *

On their way back home, after Piper helped Perry deliver a big order to a theatre, the older sister stopped her Jeep for no apparent reason. "Is everything okay?" Perry asked her, looking around them, "Why did we stop?"

Piper didn't answer, just stared at the church across the street.

"Is this about the Mary Eastey thing?" she asked, remembering the documentary Piper watched yesterday morning. Piper didn't answer but looked a little embarrassed.

"It is, isn't it? Piper, don't tell me you believe that... Those women weren't witches, just victims of over-zealous misogynistic persecution."

"She was struck by lightning when she reached for the doors, Perry," Piper finally answered, "Pastor Williams said according to the Bible, witches are evil. _Thou shall not suffer a witch to live_."

"And..?" Perry said, "I don't think that Pastor Williams is a fan of LGBT people either. Am I going to be struck by two lightnings? You _are_ good, Piper. You're the best. You don't need some old building to tell you that."

"Phoebe said the same thing, basically."

"See? You've got smart sisters everywhere you look. And we're _good_ witches."

"So, you really think you're a witch?"

"It never really made sense that I wouldn't be," Perry said, shrugging, "I mean, Charmed or not, I'm still mom's daughter and your sister. Why wouldn't I be?"

"And you're fine with that?"

"Yeah, I'm honestly starting to look forward to it," Perry said, wondering what her power could be, and added, "Look, maybe I don't get it. But if you want to do the doors thing, I'll go with you."

"Thanks. I know it's a little silly, but I do."

"Three bolts of lightning, please!" Perry called to the sky as they got out of the car, "And make 'em fresh!"

Ignoring her sister, Piper told herself in determination as they walked across the street, "I have nothing to be afraid of. I have nothing to be afraid of. Nothing. Nothing to be afraid of. Nothing."

When they reached the church's doors, Piper put her hand on the handle and paused, but Perry took the other door's handle and smiled at her. "You seriously have nothing to be afraid of, Piper."

Together, the sisters pulled the doors open, and Piper hesitantly took a step inside. Smiling brightly, she pulled Perry in a hug. They went back outside, but before going down the stairs from the church's doors, Piper raised her arms in victory and shouted, "I'm good!"

However, the sisters' joy didn't last long. As they walked back out to the street, they saw a confused elderly woman. More precisely, a confused elderly woman with an angel tattoo on the back of her hand, who looked a little like-

"Brittany?" Piper asked, worried and confused.

"You know me?" the woman, Old Brittany, smiled gratefully and asked the sisters, "I-is that my name?"


	7. Javna

"Guess what!" Prue called out to her sisters excitedly when she got back to the mansion, after just being hired at Buckland Auction House.

"What?" an elderly woman she didn't recognize asked, and Prue froze in place looking at her and trying to understand what she was doing in the manor.

"Prue," Piper said, sounding relieved, as she came over from the kitchen with a bowl in her hands, "Thank God you're home. Perry, Prue's home!"

"Yeah, who..?" Prue started in confusion.

"Here you go, Brittany," Piper told the stranger calmingly, handing her the bowl, "Why don't you go sit down at the table, okay? There you go."

"Umm… sorry, Brittany?" Prue said, as Brittany walked away carefully.

"You're not gonna believe this," Piper said, "I'm not sure I do. We think- No, we _know_ this woman is Brittany Reynolds."

"Yeah, right, Piper. And I'm Rosie O'Donnell."

"No, I mean it. Brittany has a tattoo, right? An angel on her right hand, remember?"

Looking at the elderly woman, Prue saw exactly the same tattoo on her hand as well. "That can't be…" she whispered in shock.

"That's what we thought at first, but then we started asking her some questions. Things only Brittany would know. She might be senile, but it was enough to convince me."

"And me," Perry said, walking downstairs with the Book of Shadows, "I found it, Piper. See?"

She showed them the page Piper told her about earlier, and read, " _Javna feeds one week out of every year, stealing the life force from the young by invoking the black magic power of The Evil Eye to gain eternal youth."_

"That's gotta be what happened to Brittany," Piper said.

"Yeah, but there must be some kinda incantation to reverse it somehow," Prue said.

"There is," Piper said, taking the book from Perry, she flipped the pages and showed them, " _The Hand of Fatima._ It says that, the Prophet Muhammad invoked it centuries ago to banish Javna back to… wherever the hell he came from."

"Yeah, well, the problem is we don't know who Javna really is, let alone where he is," Prue reminded her sisters.

"Yeah, I guess I was wrong about that Alec guy," Perry said, "It looks like Javna took Brittany right after we met her the other night, when Alec was with Phoebe."

Just then, they heard the sound of glass breaking in the kitchen.

"Brittany?" Piper called worriedly, but there was no answer. The three sisters hurried over to the kitchen, and saw Brittany sitting on the floor with her back to a cabinet. It looked like the youth-stripped woman has collapsed.

"Oh my God, what happened?" Piper asked as they rushed to check on her.

"Brittany, are you alright?" Perry asked.

"I'll call 9-1-1."

"And tell them what, that she's dying of old age at twenty five?" Prue sarcastically asked Piper.

Noticing a piece of paper in Brittany's hand, Perry picked it up to look at it.

"What is it?" Prue asked.

"It's a cocktail napkin from my restaurant," Piper answered, "With Stefan's address on the back."

But when Brittany heard her mention Stefan, she gasped and said in a fearful voice, "Javna."

"Oh, no…" Perry could barely whisper.

"Prue, that's where Phoebe went," Piper said, sounding as shocked and afraid as Perry felt.

The three sisters drove to Stefan's warehouse studio as fast as they could, hoping they won't be too late. _Phoebe has to be okay, please,_ Perry begged with all her heart to whomever. Her older sisters didn't even bother suggesting she should stay in the manor, since that was obviously not going to happen.

"We'll find her," Prue tried to reassure her younger sisters when they got to the address and didn't see any sign of Phoebe.

"Maybe we should call the police," Piper said.

"No," Prue told her, "If Javna has her we're the only ones who can stop him."

"But we need Phoebe to do it. The incantation only works with the three of us."

At that very instant, they heard a terrified scream which they recognized as Phoebe's voice. The three sisters ran toward her voice with Perry at the front.

She pulled the door open, and saw her twin strapped to a table and Javna standing before her, a laser-like beam of sickening red light coming out of his eyes and connecting with hers. It was clear that it hurt Phoebe.

The demon turned to look at Perry, his eyes still glowing. But before he could do anything, her older sisters followed her inside, and Prue magically threw him against the wall at the far side of the studio.

Piper and Perry hurried to free Phoebe from her restraints, while Prue stayed there to protect them from Javna – who was already getting back on his feet. But the demon managed to capture Prue in his beams of youth-stealing light, holding her paralyzed as she was drawn closer towards him.

Perry watched helplessly as the demon continued his attack on her sister. She wanted to tell Piper to try freezing him, but before she could open her mouth Javna was thrown back and Prue was free from his gaze. Her older sister looked at her in confusion for a second, although Perry had no idea why, but then ran over to join Piper and Phoebe for the Power of Three spell.

" _Evil eyes look unto me, may they soon extinguish be,_ " Perry's sisters chanted in unison from the piece of paper in Prue's hands, " _Bend thy will to the Power of Three – Eye of Earth, evil and accursed_."

"You can't stop me," Javna said, rising back to his feet, but his voice was shaky with pain, "I will live forever!"

Prue spread the palm of her hand, raising it in the demon's direction, and a radiating white glow spread from her fingertips to her entire hand. The glow then turned into a brilliant beam of light that struck Javna, and he screamed in agony as Perry's sisters chanted the incantation again.

"No!" the demon screamed in despair, but seconds later his body was consumed by the light – first his flesh turned to smoke, and then his skeleton was reduced to ash. As the four sisters stared at the pile of ashes left where he stood, recovering from their shock, it was swept it away by the wind.

"Very cool," Phoebe said.

They heard sirens coming, and went outside just in time to be near Quake's delivery van when the police arrived.

"Prue?" Andy said in surprise and worry when he saw them, "What are you doing here?"

"Umm, well, we…" Prue started to say, "Perry was just getting the van started."

"Yeah, Phoebe called, she was having car trouble," Piper explained.

"And I don't have a car so, Prue drove me here," Perry added, "And Piper came too because…"

"Anyway, Stefan was gonna take some pictures of me," Phoebe changed the subject quickly.

"Do you have any idea how lucky you are?" Andy said, and Perry had to stop herself from sighing with relief that Phoebe's distraction worked, "This guy's the stalker."

"No sign of him inside," Inspector Morris came over and told Andy, "His car's here, so he might still be around."

As his partner left, Andy reached through the van's driver side window and turned the ignition. "Yeah, I was just done when we heard the sirens," Perry told him, "So we turned it off and waited out here, you know… So it won't look like we're running away or something."

"Sure," Andy said dryly, sounding doubtful and suspicious.

"Maybe we should go," Phoebe suggested, breaking the tense silence that stretched for a couple of eternally long seconds.

"Good idea," Andy told them, and the three younger sisters left the inspector and Prue alone.

"Uh, thanks," she told him unsurely, still feeling awkward about the somewhat obvious lying, "Call me?"

"Sure."

Catching up with their sisters, Prue quietly told them, "At least now we know for sure that Perry has powers."

"What?" Perry asked in confusion, "What powers? What are you talking about?"

"You can move things with your mind, like I can," her older sister said, as if it was obvious (or even just true).

"No, I can't."

"Then what did you think happened to Javna? My eyes were locked in those rays, remember?"

Perry tried to come up with another explanation, but nothing came to mind. Then she tried to see if she can move something, but that didn't happen either. "More likely you just pushed him away with your powers anyway," she told Prue, "I can't move anything. Honest."

Prue still didn't look convinced, but let it go for now.


	8. Neighbors and Dogs

**Thank you so much for reviewing Hexenwerk, Anthony & charityf1915.**

 **Hexenwerk, I'm really glad you like the story and Perry's character. Thank you!**

 **Anthony, that's not exactly what it is, but her power will be explained soon as it manifests more… I hope you'll like it!**

 **charityf1915, I promise Paige definitely exists and will eventually be part of this story.**

* * *

The four Halliwell sisters exited the manor, headed to a house-warming party at their neighbors' house right across the street. "So," Prue reminded her sisters, "We're agreed? Twenty minutes?"

"Prue, you can't do a party in twenty minutes," Piper told her.

"Watch me," Prue said.

"Prue's party tips – meet, greet and bail," Phoebe said.

"Hey, I'm sorry, but some of us have a job."

"And some of us have fun!"

"And some of us are having a really bad hair day," Piper moaned.

"You know, that is a sign!" Prue said, "Let's turn back now before it's too late!" Their older sister tried to go back to the manor, but Piper grabbed her hand to stop her.

"Prue, it's never too late for a party," Phoebe told her.

"If it makes you feel any better, I don't really want to go either," Perry told Prue, sounding worried, "These two are making me go." Vic had to stay in the house because of the party, and Perry knew her dog didn't like being inside all alone.

"When did you start hating parties?" Phoebe accused her twin, "Remember our sweet-sixteen?"

Perry shot Prue a look that stopped her from reminding Phoebe that it was really just her sweet-sixteen. Perry didn't want a party, and only agreed to share her twin's party because it was important to Phoebe.

"Hey, I have an idea," Phoebe told them as they entered their neighbors' house, "Why don't we throw a party and charge admission? It's a great way to make extra cash."

"Hey, I have an even better idea," Prue answered in annoyance, "Why don't you just get a job?"

Not long after the sisters walked in, they were greeted by the hosts of the party – siblings Marshall, Fritz and Cynda.

"Oh, The Sisters Halliwell," Marshall said, smiling, "Now the party can begin."

They smiled back at him and his siblings, although Perry and Cynda were a bit more focused on just each other.

"It's about time you showed," the redhead neighbor told Perry, who tried not to stare too obviously at her lips. Her concern about Vic was forgotten for the moment, and the youngest Halliwell felt grateful that her sisters convinced her to come. Watching Cynda drink from her beer can was definitely making Perry… thirsty.

"Hey, Prue, I'm glad you made it," Cynda's other brother said.

"Wouldn't miss it for the world, Fritz," Perry's sister answered.

"Marshall, the place looks great," Piper told the oldest brother.

"Thank you," he said, "We're mostly just restoring it. I- I didn't want to change it, you know, too much. You guys knew the old owners, didn't you?"

"Oh, we basically grew up with their kids," Phoebe said, "We probably know the house better than you guys." Cynda laughed at that, and Perry couldn't help noticing how beautiful she looked when she did.

"I'm gonna take care of the bar – it's dry," she told her brothers, "Can you come help me, Perry?"

"Sure," Perry said happily, following the redhead. As they went to get more drinks, Cynda crushed her beer can with ease and tossed it in the trash.

"So you work in construction, right?" Perry tried to make small talk, "In Marshall's company?"

Cynda nodded, not saying anything, but she didn't seem bothered by the question either.

"Must be weird, having your brother as your boss," Perry continued, "Although, maybe I wouldn't notice the difference. Prue pretty much acts like our boss anyway sometimes."

Maybe it wasn't really fair to Prue, but at least it broke the ice with Cynda. Laughing softly, she said, "Yeah, between work and home, Marshall's always telling me what to do."

"You guys are pretty close though, right?"

"Yeah, it's been just us for a long time. Our parents died ages ago."

"I'm sorry."

Cynda didn't seem too upset, though, and with the bar restocked, she and Perry rejoined the party. The two young women were just starting to dance together, when suddenly Piper pulled her away.

"Not now, Romiette," her older sister said, "We need to get back home."

"I'll see you tomorrow, I guess?" she told Cynda as Piper pulled her away. While they were crossing the street, she asked, "What was so urgent?"

"When Prue got back to the manor, apparently there was this… some big black dog in a standoff with Vic – she said it looked like it's trying to get upstairs past her. And then… I guess Vic scared it away, but Prue was pretty upset when she told me and Phoebe about it."

"Must have been a seriously scary dog to affect Prue that way," Perry said, worried, "I guess it's good that Vic was there. I hope it didn't hurt her."

"Prue said she's fine. They both are," Piper reassured her as they got inside.

"So how big was this dog again?" they heard Phoebe ask when they joined their sisters in the kitchen.

"Huge," Prue told her, "Almost as big as Vic, but with a lot more muscle on it."

Vic whined in protest, but Perry could see that at least she was really not hurt. It was a huge relief. "I'm sorry I got distracted by the pretty girl and left you alone," Perry quietly told her dog.

"What was it doing in the house?" Piper wondered.

"I don't know," Prue said, "Someone obviously left the front door open again." That last part she said while looking directly at Phoebe.

"You don't always have to assume it's Phoebe's fault," Perry reminded their older sister.

"And yet, usually it is."

"Well, it's not a big deal," Phoebe said, "We checked the house, and nothing is missing except my Pat Boone Christmas CD."

Her sisters, even Perry, looked at her in amused exasperation.

"No, this is really creepy," Piper said, "If there were a dog in the house, then it had to have an owner. No dog I know can open that front door."

"Maybe we should get a security system," Phoebe suggested.

"No, they are way too expensive," Prue said, "Besides, after what happened – Andy will be checking on us every five minutes."

Her sisters smiled happily. "Aww, you told him," Piper said in a teasing exaggerated tone.

"Convenient," Phoebe said in the same voice, and Prue looked at them wearily.

"So what should we do?" Perry changed the subject before their older sister will get too annoyed with them, "Besides spoiling Vic with a whole bunch of treats, that is."

"Well, I admit this time your dog did a pretty good job protecting us," Prue answered Perry's question, and then pointedly told Phoebe, "But we could just remember to lock the doors."

She then walked into the laundry room as Phoebe nodded. "That is a really good idea, Prue," she said, quiet enough that their older sister couldn't hear her, and then walked over to the laundry room door and locked Prue in it.


	9. Victus

"I wonder why he went to you first," Piper said after Prue told them about their father showing up in her office out of the blue after twenty years, as they met with Phoebe at a café during lunch, "I mean, why not Phoebe or me?"

"Piper, it's not like I won the lottery," Prue grimly reminded her. Seeing her father was probably the last thing the oldest Halliwell sister wanted.

"What was he like?" Phoebe asked, "Did he ask about us?"

"Actually, no," Prue said as gently as she could, but seeing how her younger sister was clearly upset, she added, "Phoebe, think about it. He abandoned us. He was a no-show for twenty years, and then what? Suddenly here he is? Why now?" She spoke angrily, but it was Victor she was angry at – not her sisters.

"Maybe he just wants to be part of our lives…" Piper suggested, cautiously hopeful.

"After all this time? Don't get your hopes up."

"Well, there's only one way to find out," Phoebe said, "Why wait 'til dinner? Let's go see him now."

"Will you be rational? Don't you find it a little suspicious that just when we find out-" Prue paused when a waitress came over and cleared her plate, and then continued more quietly, "Just when we find out we're witches – he shows up? But when Mom dies, he's nowhere to be found?"

"What about Perry?" their middle sister changed the subject, "Are we really going to not tell her about this?"

"You know how she feels about him, Piper," the oldest sister sternly said, "I may say he's dead to me sometimes because I'm angry, but for Perry he's really dead. I told the two of you because you deserve to make your own decision, but she already made hers years ago – and you should respect it."

"Fine, but I still think we should meet him," Phoebe said.

"Don't forget Grams always told us he was a threat to us," Prue tried to warn her, "There's no reason to think that that's changed."

"Prue, it's not that I don't see your point," Piper said, "But… you knew him, we didn't. Why can't we have a chance to know him now?"

"Because we really don't know why he's here. And until we do, we can't trust him."

* * *

"Hey, gorgeous," Cynda said with a flirty smile as she walked into the garage, and Perry smiled brightly back at her.

"Hey," she said, putting aside the sword she was sharpening and standing up.

"I managed to get away from Marshall for a while, so I figured I'll come see how you're doing. You left in a hurry last night – everything good?"

"Yeah, thanks," Perry said, "Apparently we had some kind of hellhound breaking and entering into the house. Good thing Vic was there to scare it away." She pointed at her big white dog, who was lying at the garage entrance and eyeing Cynda suspiciously.

"Yeah, good thing."

"I really enjoyed the party, though," Perry added.

"Yeah, I was really glad you could come," Cynda said, wiping a sweaty strand of hair from Perry's forehead.

Vic started barking at something, probably that stray cat that seemed to have adopted them a couple of weeks ago, but Perry was too distracted to see what it was about. Cynda started kissing her, and it felt even better than Perry imagined it will. The tall redhead was a great kisser, and her lips were so soft and tasted amazing. The best part was the contrast between Cynda's soft kiss and the hunger with which she seemed to kiss Perry. Their hands caressed each other, softly at first but gradually growing more demanding until it almost hurt. Perry wasn't expecting to be kissing Cynda so soon, but the almost animal attraction between them was undeniable.

She had no idea how long they've even been kissing for, until she heard a loud boom sound from upstairs – inside the manor.

"What was that?" she wondered out loud, breaking away from Cynda's kiss.

"Don't know, don't care," the redhead said with a mischievous smile, pulling Perry back as she tried to go check the noise. Vic growled angrily at Cynda, but the black haired young woman just smiled in amusement and said, "I promise I'll be back in a minute."

She tried to walk out of the garage again, but Cynda gripped her so tightly that it really hurt her arm. "Let go of me," Perry told her in a serious voice, but still tried to calm Vic down.

Suddenly Cynda let go, making Perry lose balance and fall on her face. "Oops," the redhead said sarcastically, walking back to her own house without looking back.

 _What the hell is her problem?_ Perry wondered, dizzily getting back to her feet. Her face hurt where it hit the garage floor, and her arm still hurt where Cynda gripped it. _It's probably going to leave bruises too… Why would she do that?_

She slowly walked back to the manor, her head still spinning, but was surprised to see Prue and Andy there when she walked inside.

"Perry?" her sister said in concern when she saw her, "What happened? Are you alright? Did you have some kind of accident?"

"Yeah," Perry said, not really eager to explain the whole story, "But I'm fine, I think. What… what's going on here?"

"Seems Phoebe left the door open again."

"I guess I'll get going," Andy said, looking a little awkward, and kissed Prue's cheek before he left.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Prue asked Perry, locking the door after him, "We should put some ice on these."

Perry nodded, but said, "Before… this happened, I heard some kind of noise from upstairs. I was going to check it out…"

"You just go take care of your injury," Prue told her reassuringly, "I'll go see what happened." She didn't want to worry Perry and distract her from getting the ice, so she waited until her younger sister entered the kitchen before going to pick up the Book of Shadows from the sitting room's floor.

Something strange was definitely going on, if not a whole bunch of strange things.

Prue went up to the attic to put the Book back in its place, but was surprised (quite shocked, actually) to see that someone or something has ripped the reinforced door that Perry installed out of its doorframe.

"What the hell..?"

* * *

"You don't know for sure," Phoebe said when Prue told Piper and her about what happened, and that someone tried to steal the Book. She looked worriedly at her twin, who was still wincing in pain whenever she moved her injured arm.

"I know plenty," Prue said, "First someone rips off the attic door, then the Book of Shadows is found downstairs? Isn't that enough?"

"Why would somebody want the Book?" Piper asked.

"Why would anyone not?" Perry said, grimacing in pain, "You've seen how powerful it is."

"They know what it can do," Prue agreed with her, "And they want its power. Our power."

"That would mean it's someone who knows us," Piper said, "And knows that we're witches."

"Yeah, someone like…" Prue stopped herself, but Perry was looking at her suspiciously.

"What?!" Phoebe said in shock, "How can you think that?!"

"How can she think what?" Perry said, raising her voice even though it made her jaw hurt even more, "Who are you talking about? What are you all hiding from me?"

"She's talking about Dad, Perry," Piper told her as gently as she could.

The youngest Halliwell looked at Prue, who nodded and said in a sad voice, "It's true. Victor's back. I'm sorry, Perry."

But their younger sister just shook her head, refusing to believe it. Her father was dead – he died when she was three years old, and no stranger showing up twenty years later was going to change that.

"Whoever that 'Victor' is, he isn't our Dad," she told her sister stubbornly.

"It's okay, Perry," Prue told her, holding her hand comfortingly, "You won't have to see him. I promise."

Perry nodded in silent thanks, and looked at Piper and Phoebe. "So… this 'Victor' shows up, and suddenly the manor is attacked by hellhounds and book-thieves. And the two of you don't find it suspicious?"

"Think about it," Prue told them as well, "Do you really think it's a coincidence?"

"The craft is a chick thing, Prue. It's passed on down through the female line," Piper said, "There's a good chance Dad doesn't even know we're witches."

"And there's just as good of a chance he does," Prue told her. Looking at her twin, who was unusually quiet, Perry could tell that she was hiding something.

"What would he want with the book?" Piper said, "And why would he take it from us? Phoebe, help me out here." When her sister didn't answer, apparently too deep in thought to even hear her, Piper said again, "Phoebe!"

"Okay…" Phoebe said, "Let's just say for the sake of argument that he is after it. Wouldn't he have taken it with him? He wouldn't have left it behind."

"Okay, we have to call the cops and report it as a break-in," Piper said.

"And tell them what?" Prue said, "That someone broke into our house to try and steal our broomsticks? I mean, please… Besides, Andy's already been here."

"Oh, so Andy was here," Phoebe said, "Again. Talk about convenient. Did you ever think of pointing the finger at him?"

"Seriously, Phoebe?" Perry told her, "You're willing to trust some man you don't know, who _might_ be the father who abandoned us when we were too little to even remember him, but not Andy –who we've known for most of our lives?"

She wiped a tear from her cheek, not even sure if it was from the pain in her jaw or talking about their father.

"I'm sorry that some of us don't pretend we're orphans, Perry!" her twin answered angrily, "But I'd actually like to have a dad. So I'm going to see him at dinner tonight."

"Me too," Piper said, but she was calmer, and looked at Perry almost apologetically.

"I've already seen him," Prue told them.

"And… when he asks about you, Perry?" Piper hesitantly asked.

"I honestly don't care what you tell him," she answered wearily, "He's not my father, and he never will be."


	10. Not Normal

"So… I called a friend from trade school and asked him to cover for me while my hand heals," Perry told her older sister, who was putting some broccoli to steam in the microwave for them, "I can't really work with it being like this, and I don't want to keep my clients waiting. He said he'll come tomorrow afternoon."

"Sounds like a good idea," Prue nodded, but she was distracted worrying about their other sisters having dinner with Victor. "How did this actually happen, anyway?" she asked Perry after a moment, looking at her bruised arm, "You're usually so careful."

Blushing, Perry said, "I guess… The boom from the attic must've spooked me. So, when I was in a hurry to see what was going on, I… this happened." _Smooth, Perry,_ she thought. But it was still better than telling Prue, _'I was kissing our neighbor Cynda, and then when I tried to go see what happened she got rough and hurt me.'_

She was still thinking about how much she didn't want to have that conversation when the microwave beeped. Just a second after the broccoli was ready, though, they heard the doorbell ring. "I'll get that," Prue said, making the mistake of leaving her hungry sister all alone with the food.

About a minute later, Prue came back to the kitchen with Andy. "Hey, Andy," Perry said, stepping away from the (mostly gone) broccoli in fake innocence.

Looking at her with some concern, Andy said, "Oh, hey, Perry. What happened to your face? And your hand?"

Confused, Perry said, "I had an accident, remember?" But Andy just shook his head, having no idea what she's talking about. Thinking about their long lost father suddenly showing up, the mysterious black dog, and Andy visiting earlier but seeming to forget what happened – it all gave Perry an idea of what might be going on. She needed to check the Book of Shadows.

"Why don't I leave you two alone?" she suggested, "I'll be upstairs if you need me, Prue."

A while later, Prue came by and told her that she's going out with Andy. Perry smiled and told her to enjoy, but by the time her sister was out of the door she's already forgotten all about that. She found what she's been looking for.

" _Shapeshifters are demonic beings with the ability to alter their physical form and shape,_ " Perry read from the book, " _These lower-level demons can take the form of any person or beast, and even transform parts of their body into the shape of inanimate objects._ "

Looking at the next page, she smiled when she saw the next entry titled _'Shapeshifter vanquishing potion'_.

* * *

"Nice reflexes," Victor said sarcastically, when in the blink of an eye Piper moved from sitting across the table to standing next to him – holding the dessert which a second ago was carried by the waiter he tripped, "Now let me get this straight… Piper – you freeze time, Prue – don't you move objects? And what's your special trick, Phoebe? Premonitions? Does Peregrine have an active power too?"

"She's none of your business," Prue told their father, not bothering to deny the rest of what he said.

"Still, maybe we should talk about this elsewhere?"

* * *

Perry has just finished preparing the vanquishing potion when she heard the doorbell ring. Putting a couple of vials of the potion in her pocket, she went to get the door, but froze when she opened it and saw Cynda.

"Look, Perry-" Cynda started to say, but the witch came to her senses and tried to close the door. Her neighbor held the door open, however, and she was stronger than Perry. Especially now that she was injured. Unfortunately Vic was probably sleeping in the backyard.

"What do you want?" the youngest Halliwell angrily asked her.

"I'm sorry I hurt you, sometimes I forget how strong I am."

"No. You did this to me on purpose. You didn't even look back."

"I was embarrassed," Cynda said, sounding irritated as if Perry's accusations were nothing more than bothersome trivial complaints, "I felt like you're rejecting me, so I got defensive."

"Then I wasn't," Perry said, "But now I am. Go away, Cynda."

Smiling wickedly, the redhead shook her head and grabbed Perry by her hair. She hit the witch's head against the doorframe, making her lose consciousness, and then shapeshifted into her.

"Fritz says that her sisters are on their way back," the demon heard Marshall's voice behind her, "Take her back to our house, I'll take it over from here." Marshall shifted into Perry while his sister changed back into herself, but as she walked away with the real Perry slung on her shoulder, he reminded her, "Don't kill her yet, Cynda. We might still need her. There'll be plenty of time to kill all four witches later."

* * *

"…And this one used to be a five-by-seven," Victor told his daughters, or at least three of them, since he still hasn't seen any sign of his youngest daughter Peregrine, "When I was still in it."

They were looking at old family photographs together. The framed photo he was currently talking about showed Patty Halliwell sitting surrounded by her four daughters and smiling brightly, her arms around little Piper and the tiny twins. Prue was sitting on what were apparently Victor's knees, but his actual face was cut out from the picture.

"I think Grams cut you out," Phoebe said.

"There's a bunch of other stuff in the attic," Piper told him, "Grams left us so many things."

"It's not all she left us."

"Phoebe, let's not go there," Prue said sternly.

"What? It's not like he doesn't already know, and I'm sorry, but it's kind of a relief to talk to someone about it."

"Um, does anybody want coffee?" Piper asked, smiling awkwardly, in an attempt to prevent another confrontation.

"I mean, one day I am a member of the Y generation with average hair and a thing for caffeinated beverages, and the next – I am a witch!"

"Dad? Do you take cream, or sugar, with that?"

"I just read from the book and 'wham!' I am Tabitha!" Phoebe continued to talk excitedly, ignoring Piper's discomfort and Prue's glaring, "The only thing is, I got stuck with the power to see the future. How uncool is that?"

"Well," Victor told her, "From what your mother always said, it was actually considered one of the more desirable powers."

"Unless you see things you don't desire," Phoebe said, sounding much more serious than she did just a few seconds ago.

"So how long have you known?" Prue asked their father, "About us, our powers. How long?"

"I didn't," he answered, "I knew there was a possibility. That's why I came back – to find out. Must've happened when your grandmother died, right?"

"Yup," Phoebe said, "I just read an incantation from the book, and then-"

"Phoebe!" Prue stopped her.

"Ahh…" Victor said in an exaggerated dramatic voice, "The Book of Shadows… Not exactly 'summer reading'. Is it still up in the attic? You know, I haven't seen it in years… Mind if I have a look?"

* * *

"Where is he? What the hell is taking him so long?" Cynda shouted at Fritz, angrily throwing a chair at the wall and breaking it to pieces, "He has the bitch's face, how hard can it be to convince her sisters to take the book out of the house?!"

"Patience, Cynda," her brother tried to calm her down, "Just try for once to behave like a normal demon being and not some blood-raging monster."

"Patience is highly overrated. The witch is right here, helpless, begging to be killed. We should just destroy her, right here and now."

"Yeah, let's kill the witch who doesn't have any powers. What exactly will that give us?"

"Satisfaction," Cynda answered with a shrug, caressing Perry's cheek, barely resisting the urge to shapeshift into her true form and rip that pretty face apart with her long sharp teeth.

"If anything, we should go with my idea – kill the ones with real active powers, and then force Phoebe to get the book out."

"Wha…" slowly regaining consciousness, Perry looked around her. She was tied to a chair in their neighbors' house. Cynda and Fritz were there too – arguing, talking about… killing witches?

Her thinking was still a little foggy, but after a few seconds she managed to quietly mumble, "You… you're the shapeshifters? All three of you? I thought it was… Victor."

"The Charmed Ones know there are shapeshifters trying to get the Book of Shadows?" Fritz realized in alarm.

"Relax," Cynda told him, "The Charmed Ones' _sister_ knows. But she didn't have a chance to tell her sisters about it yet – did you, babe?"

She caressed Perry's face again, showing the witch her true form just to giggle in delight at Perry's horror.

* * *

"What exactly are you accusing me of, Prue?"

"Figure it out," she told her father, glaring at him with her arms crossed.

"Come on, Prue," Phoebe told her angrily, "Take it easy."

"Are you kidding me? Am I the only one who sees what's going on here?"

"Couldn't we all just take a deep breath-" Piper started to say.

"Think about it, Piper! What, he wines and dines us, now he's back in a house he hasn't set foot in in twenty years, and the first thing he wants to know is 'where's the Book of Shadows'?"

"You're just looking for something to blame him for!" Phoebe insisted.

"Admit it," Prue told Victor, "Tell them why you're here."

"Prue, stop!" Piper begged, but her sister shook her head.

"For the first time in your life, Victor, tell them the truth."

"Alright, fine," he said, sighing, "You're right. I am after the book. That's exactly the reason why I came back."

"Dad…" Phoebe said weakly, looking at him in shock.

"But not for the reasons you would like to believe," he continued, "that would make it easy for you, Prue, wouldn't it? If I were evil? Well, I'm sorry to disappoint you – I'm not. I'm here to protect you."

"Yeah, right," Prue muttered.

"To protect us from what?" Piper asked.

"From yourselves!" he said, "That's why I want that damn book! It's where the Power of Three started, and it's where it must end."

"But it's part of us," Phoebe said, hurt and confused, "It's part of who we are."

"That's what your mother believed too… before they killed her."

"What are you saying?" Piper asked him.

"You have no idea what evil is out there."

"Oh, I think we've got a pretty good idea," Prue said, looking at him with contempt.

"Listen to me, Prue. That book is a magnet for evil. As long as you have it, as long as you use it, you're in danger. All of you. Even Peregrine."

"It's actually Perry," their youngest sister said, coming over from upstairs, "Not that you would know, or care. I mean, you never actually wanted to reconnect with any of us – you just wanted the Book to strip our powers, and then walk off patting yourself on the back that you saved us from magic – thinking it makes up for being gone our whole lives."

"Of course it doesn't-" he started to say, but Perry wasn't finished.

"I say we give him the Book. Just so he'll leave us alone – and for good this time. We only had these powers for two weeks, and nearly died at least as many times since then. If it gets us rid of him, I'm willing to give them up."

"You don't mean that, Perry," her twin said. Phoebe wasn't sure which was more awful – that Perry was willing to give up their powers, or that the only reason she was so eager to do it was to never see their father again.

"You can't just let him win," Prue told her youngest sister, and then turned in fury to Victor. "You are unbelievable," she said, "After all these years of being an absentee dad then you waltz back into our lives and try and tell us how to live?!"

"I never wanted you to have those powers in the first place," he said, "I battled with your grandmother after your mom died. She wanted you to find out you were witches when you grew up, I didn't. I fought for you, hard… Your grandmother was too strong."

"Wait!" Piper stopped him angrily, "You're blaming Grams for why you disappeared? She loved us! She raised us!"

"What did she do, put a spell on you?" Prue asked sarcastically.

"Believe me-" he began to say, but Perry stopped him.

"Believe you? We don't even know you!" she said, and to her sisters she added, "Look, either we give him the Book of Shadows or don't, but this… discussion isn't going anywhere."

Victor sighed. He wanted the Book to protect his daughters, but because of how he failed the in the past, none of them could see that. The only daughter that technically seemed to be on 'his side' was only willing to give him the Book because she couldn't bare the sight of him.

"Phoebe," he tried one more time to convince the daughter who seemed to resent him the least, "You believe me, don't you?" But she just sighed and shook her head helplessly – she wanted to believe that he wanted what's best for them, but she just couldn't. Even if his intentions really were good, he had to be wrong.

"We've done fine without you," Prue told him.

"Prue, you can't fight this!" he begged her to listen, "I couldn't!"

"I'm not you!"

"Are you sure? Are you sure you can protect your sisters forever?"

"We'll protect each other," Phoebe told him.

"Then you'll die together!"

"No one can hurt us as bad as you!" Prue yelled at their father, and used her power to throw him against a doorframe.

"If you wanted me to leave…" he said, panting, after getting back on his feet, "all you had to do… was ask."

"Why would she bother?" Perry retorted, "Isn't leaving your go-to parenting technique? Although, I have to admit – even being here for just one day, you managed to prove you're a much better father when you're gone."

It seemed Victor had nothing more to say to them, and he just walked away to the door.

"Why did you do that?" Phoebe angrily asked Prue as he left, then she looked at Perry and said, "And you… I don't even know where to start…"

"Did you have to throw him so hard?" Piper chastised her older sister.

"It got him to leave, didn't it?" Perry told her.

"We could have just, you know, talked about it! Like normal people!"

"We're not normal," Prue said, walking away to her room.


End file.
